Justice League: Doom

Synopsis

The Justice League are a team of great power, but also of personal secrets they thought safe. That changes when the immortal supervillain, Vandal Savage, has Batman's Batcave secretly raided to learn them all and more. Soon, the Leaguers are individually beset by their enemies who attack them with inescapable death traps specifically designed with that information. With that, all seems lost until an indomitable Knight and a young Titan combine to deliver salvation even as Savage uses the opportunity to implement a far grander scheme.

The Justice League are a team of great power, but also of personal secrets they thought safe. That changes when the immortal supervillain, Vandal Savage, has Batman's Batcave secretly raided to learn them all and more. Soon, the Leaguers are individually beset by their enemies who attack them with inescapable death traps specifically designed with that information. With that, all seems lost until an indomitable Knight and a young Titan combine to deliver salvation even as Savage uses the opportunity to implement a far grander scheme.

Tech specs

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by xamtaro 9 / 10

'Doom' is in fact the Justice League's victory!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are finally seeing actual story and art
continuity in the DC animated movies! Yes SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE
was the follow-up to SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES, but they looked
so different that you would think they were unrelated. JUSTICE LEAGUE:
DOOM feels and looks like an actual "episode 2" following "JUSTICE
LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS". Same writer, same voices, same art
style, same music, same character we used to know and love. Loved by
all, except their enemies.

The enemies of the Justice League, led by the immortal Vandal Savage
have formulated a clandestine plan to eliminate the superheroes. One by
one, they manage to turn the heroes' strengths against themselves, prey
on their physical and psychological weaknesses, and effectively put
them out of commission. Even worse is the revelation that this plan was
initially concocted by one of the League's own members. It does not
stop here however. Vandal Savage, convinced that humanity is its own
virus, intends to wipe out half the population of earth and return the
world to a new stone age. He and his allies would then rule the
survivors and bring order to the planet. But nobody counted on the last
minute intervention by Cyborg, an up and coming superhero most would
remember as one of the Teen Titans.

Loosely adapted from Mark Waid's "JLA: Tower of Babel" story arc,
JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM really gets into the minds of our favorite heroes.
In its short run time, we get to experience our heroes' insecurities,
weaknesses, fears, but also get to see how they overcome those
limitations individually and as a team. That is what separates heroes
from just people with superpowers! Voice acting is awesome as usual and
as always it is a treat to hear most of the cast of the Justice League
animated series in their respective roles again. So memorable are the
performances of Kevin Conroy, Tim Daley, Susan Eisenberg, Carl Lumbly
and Michael rosenbaum that whenever most people open a comic book, it
is their voices they hear as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian
Manhunter and Flash respectively. Nathan Fillon reprises his Green
Lantern role from Emerald Knights, another refreshing attempt at a
continuity nod. One funny thing though, Tim Daley's voice seems to have
deepened to the level of Kevin Conroy's 90s era Batman voice.

Snappy, naturally flowing dialogue complements the terrific cast
chemistry. With a brisk pace that never lets up on the tension, Justice
League: Doom could have been a near perfect score. Something HAS to
ruin that and sadly in this case, it is the art and animation.

Animation is a little bit disappointing, looking more like a high
budget TV series than a movie standard. Aside from a few outstanding
scenes, particularly the battle sequences, the animation is nowhere
near the fluidity of, say, Batman Year One or All Star Superman. The
Japanese anime-ish style is strongest now more thanks to Telecom
Animation Film, a Japanese anime company who's credits include BRAVE
STORY, TIDE LINE BLUE and, believe it or not, later episodes of
INUYASHA.

Not that its bad, in fact it is good. The characters look really hot
but sometimes you get anime-styled facial expressions creeping in and
that just looks..........weird. Designs aside, the level of detail in
the artwork is just one big let down. Other than tights, there is no
reason why civilian clothing or even capes have no folds in them at
all. Even worse is how weapons and cybernetics are drawn. Many of
Cyborg's robot parts, particularly his face plating, looks like face
paint.

One gets the feeling that most time and effort went into this year's
BATMAN YEAR ONE and JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM was produced merely as a "side
project" since they had Dwayne McDuffie's exceptional script lying
around. No point of it going to waste. Anyhow, should Warner Premiere
decide to create an entire Justice League movie series, pumping just a
bit more money and effort into the animation production would help
things a lot. They already have top notch writing and acting talent,
veteran producers and directors who respect the DC comics. No point
mucking things up with mediocre technicalities.

thexamtaroshowvault.blogspot.com

Reviewed by AviCoolChatt 7 / 10

A good adaption with a weak ending. Not for newcomers to the DC Universe

First of, this is an adaption of Mark Waid's famous 'Tower of Babel'
storyline in which Ra's Al Ghul, Extremist nature lover, desires to
destroy humanity or at least most of it so that the world is a better
place.In this movie, Vandal Savage( I think they wanted this to tie in
with Young Justice where he is the primary antagonist for season 1)
wan't to destroy 2/3rds of humanity with a solar flare so he can rule
over the rest.

Problem: The Justice League

Solution: Steal Batman's files on how to deal with the Justice League.

Now the main plot is out of the way, I'll get straight to the pros and
cons.

PROS

1.Yes, they're back.Conroy is THE BATMAN and Fillion has made Hal
Jordan his own.The rest are good enough but the Flash sound more like
wally than Barry.Overall,it's great.The villains are also done well
with special mention to Bane and Savage.

2.Batman's love for his dead parents, Superman's desire to help others,
Martian Manhunter's need to socialize, Flash's need to protect his
family, Wonder Woman's fighting instinct and Green Lantern's concern
over wielding the most powerful weapon in the galaxy all come through
naturally enough to be their downfall. Through Lantern's plan was the
most confusing, Fillion made it the most poignant of them all.

3.Bane for Batman(with a little of Knightfall 'I broke the bat' put
in), Metallo with Superman and Star Saphire/ Carol Ferris for Green
Lantern - all great choices. I think Circe may have been a better match
for Wonder Woman. But all in all, if you read comics and know your
heroes, you will love the pairings.

4.Cyborg was a great addition. Someone with technological knowledge
better than batman is always welcome and I loved how he was the flaw in
the plans along with batman being alive. An he seemed to be fitting in
nicely with the story, and did not stick out like a sore thumb.

CONS

1.The plans: While Batman's and Martian Manhunter's were copied, the
rest left me somewhat flummoxed. Especially Green Lantern's. Yes it all
sounded great in Batman's mouth, but how could all that had happened be
orchestrated?Why use robots?And those rebels and hostages - were they
robots or real people who died?AARGH!Wonder woman ripping off Cyborg's
arm was nice though. And who made the modifications to the plans? Some
seemed Savage's and some seemed like the respective villains(You
demoralize Green Lantern and bury Batman?YOU DON'T KILL THEM).Real
confusing. Flash's bomb goes off if you slow down and Wonder Woman's
hallucinations to keep her fighting were both derived from the comics.

2.Ra's plans in the book involved robbing speech and using germ
warfare. That was stoppable. Here? The sun kills the earth! HOW THE
HELL CAN U STOP THAT?Easy make the earth transparent.Huh?In 8 minutes,
they managed to power up the villains transparent layer using the
WatchTower and rendered the earth transparent.Huh?Earth saved?A
resolution for resolution's sake.

3.Now the major problem.YOU WILL NOT GET THE MOVIE IF YOU DON'T READ
THE COMICS.The pairings are the major points of this movie.If you know
the heroes and the villains, you will enjoy almost 90% of the movie.
And if you know nothing or are a basic reader, you will be lost for the
majority of the film. Only Savage is given a back story. For the rest,
read the comics and then watch.

In all, a good solid DC movie that could have been better, given the
great source material.

Reviewed by tjmorrisiv 6 / 10

Workhorse plot and animation, great voice acting and cast

Bottom line, this is an workhorse story and animation with great voice acting. Kids will enjoy it, adults might if they shut their brain off a bit.

Andrea Romano once again assembles the A-list of voice actors - most of the original Justice League cast is back, and for that I'm thankful - the exception is a Nathan Fillion voiced Green Lantern (probably trying to tie in with the recent movie spin offs). He does a good job. Also, Cyborg is added to the mix (perhaps to promote his new role in the comic?).

The character design is solid, unlike some of the other DCAU entries (I'm looking at you Death of Superman).

Unless I am mistaken, they reused the theme from "Crisis on 2 Earths" for the opening sequence - this is kind of a quibble, as I'd say it's the most epic theme ever written for any of the DCAU titles - but seriously, give this composer more work, he is awesome.

I hesitate to call this "bad" but the story is a bit "meh". The Legion of Doom is assembled of mostly C-list villains, headed by Vandal Savage. I don't have a problem with pulling some of the more obscure DC characters out, but none of these villains is particularly well characterized (this is a criticism of the script NOT the voice acting, which is well done). The strength of the story comes in the grudging relationship between Batman and the Justice League and also his relationship with Superman. It is a bit weak in the transition to the 3rd act, making the villains look remarkably short sighted, this could have been handled better. It seems a bit dumb to make these DCAU titles PG 13, having the villains threaten and kill people occasionally, but have their evil plans strictly G rated.

I'm not sure if it's a function of the story-boarding or direction, but the scenes are kind of workhorse, lacking the incredible dynamism demonstrated in "Shazam and Superman: Return of Black Adam" and the accompanying shorts, directed by Joaquim Dos Santos It would be nice if these animated "movies" felt more like movies - bigger, better action than we get from typical animated TV shows. Bruce Timm and company set a pretty high bar years ago, if all else fails, get Dos Santos to consult.

While this is not horrible, a similar story was done before in the Justice League TV show, and I would say it was done better in Season 1, "Injustice for All" and especially in Season 2, "Secret Society", which I think was also written better, with better action.

Overall, it's great to hear the original (perfect) voice cast back, just wish this entry brought a little more "boom" with them.